BBC opens its books to spending watchdog

The BBC has agreed to throw open its books to the National Audit Office for
the first time.

By Christopher Hope, Whitehall Editor

7:30AM BST 22 Sep 2010

Under a deal to be announced today, the public spending watchdog will be able to vet executive pay at the state-owned broadcaster.

Financial contracts between the BBC and other companies will also be subject to regular official public scrutiny for the first time.

Currently, the audit office is only able to undertake value for money studies at the corporation if invited to do so by the BBC Trust, the broadcaster’s governing body.

The BBC can withhold sensitive figures and refused to disclose what it pays its stars unless the audit office signed a confidentiality agreement, which it refused to do.

The announcement will be made by Don Foster, the Liberal Democrats’ culture spokesman, at the party’s conference in Liverpool.

It was unclear last night what level of detail the audit office would publish about fees and payments to the BBC’s leading “talent”.

Some of the corporation’s biggest stars charge for their services through production companies, which could lead to the payments being disclosed. The deal means that MPs on the public accounts committee, which has oversight of the audit office’s work, will automatically be able to question senior executives in public about the way the BBC spends the licence fee.